Post by Eileen Liu, EIT

This summer, I had the opportunity to intern at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. in Austin, Texas. Over the course of the internship, I had fun traveling to site visits, analyzing distressed structures, and applying my bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering back to my alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin, the city of Austin, and beyond. My work at WJE was diverse, with each project bringing new challenges and opportunities to learn. Some of my favorite projects include working on the Texas Capitol roof renovation project, where I analyzed load path calculations in MathCAD and developed drawings for additions to the structure. I also got to visit the UT Tower to inspect the weathered masonry. In addition, I worked on developing solutions to structural deterioration and enjoyed my site visits to parking garages to document concrete distress. From other site visits, I saw wood rot, HSS columns with heavy corrosion that resulted in section loss, and excessive deflections that most certainly exceeded the limit. It was truly an amazing experience getting to work on these projects with some of the most knowledgeable engineers in the industry. Thank you to the entire Austin office for being so welcoming and kind to me. I would like to thank Ben Parmer, PE, Raul Olvera, PE, Athanasios Metaxas,  Dean Deschenes, Gabriel Carrera, Katelyn Low, PE, and Firas "Ross" Shalabi PhD, PE. for adding me to your projects and mentoring me throughout. I would also like to thank Lindsey Brennand for organizing WJE's first-ever Intern EDGE event and for everything that you do. In this internship, I learned so much about structural forensic engineering, and it left me hungry to learn more. As I continue my education in structural engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, I will think back on this summer with fond memories of the people and projects that inspired me to continue pursuing excellence in this field.